Lists of missing records
Table of recovered public records

The missing or alienated original documents listed in the pages linked below are public records of the State of New Jersey defined by New Jersey Statutes 47:3-16 as follows:

As such, they are classified and protected by law and subject to demand by the State of New Jersey, through judicial process if necessary, as stipulated by New Jersey Statutes 47:3-27 & 28:

This law was and is retrospective, retroactive and founded in common law and colonial and early state statutes regarding the preservation of public records. Through the New Jersey State Constitution of 2 July 1776, which adopted the full extent of colonial law then in place, and subsequent constitutions and legislation, Title 47 of New Jersey Statutes is applicable and enforceable with respect to official records of both the Colony and State of New Jersey and its subdivisions.

By law, the State of New Jersey retains ownership of any and all public records regardless of the circumstances of custody, alienation and provenance. New Jersey public records cannot be legally held by another party without a depository agreement duly executed by, or with the approval of, the New Jersey Division of Archives and Records Management.

Please be advised that New Jersey State Archives has reported the theft of the documents listed in the pages linked below to both the New Jersey State Police and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). One or both of these agencies will be notified should any of these documents be advertised for sale or auction, or discovered to be in the custody of any person, corporation, organization or agency other than New Jersey State Archives, which is the legal owner.

Be further advised that New Jersey State Archives invites the voluntary return of any such documents to the State of New Jersey. In such instances, the State Archives will suspend formal demand and legal process to recover such documents and will, upon receipt of them, acknowledge the same as a donation to the State Archives. The State may also exercise discretion in negotiating mutually beneficial terms for the return of such documents and formal acknowledgement of their legal ownership. This may include planned public and/or media events, such as our celebration of the Bernstein and Sang Donations.

Please contact: archives.collections@sos.state.nj.us or call 609-292-9507 (Joseph Klett), 609-984-3299 (Karl Niederer) or 609-292-1570 (Ellen Callahan) should you have questions, would like to report the whereabouts of alienated public records of New Jersey, or would like to arrange for the donation of records.

Public records known to be alienated from the State include, but are not limited to, the following:

Enrolled Laws of the Royal Colony of New Jersey:
1703 – 1711
1714 – 1716
1717 – 1725
1728 – 1740
1741 – 1749
1751 – 1756
1757 – 1761
1762 – 1764
1765
1766 – 1768
1769 – 1772
1774 – 1775

Enrolled Laws of the State of New Jersey:
1776 – 1777
1778
1779
1780 – 1782
1783 – 1786
1787 – 1804

Correspondence of Governor William Livingston
1776
1777
1778
1779
1780
1781 – 1785

Miscellaneous Filings of the Office of the Secretary of State

Legislative Filings

Military Papers

County and Municipal Records

 

Note that the State of New Jersey has recovered alienated public records from Private Individual individuals, manuscripts dealers, auction houses and institutional collections as early as the 1860s. In most cases, this has occurred through direct donation of alienated public records to the State Archives.

However, in some cases formal action under NJS Title 47 (cited above) was preceded the recovery of the alienated records. This was done in the form of notice by the Division of Archives and Records Management or the Attorney General’s Office, investigation by law enforcement, judicial complaint, court injunction, or a combination of these. As the table below demonstrates, since its founding the State Archives has responded to known advertisements and reports as to the location of alienated public records. In all cases where a legal claim was formally asserted, the State’s statutory ownership and prior filing of the alienated documents were thoroughly researched and proven to the satisfaction of executive, legal and/or judicial authorities. In cases where the party notified was compliant without adjudication of the State’s claim, the return of the document(s) was gratefully acknowledged as a charitable donation.

Returned Public Records

New Jersey State Archives gratefully acknowledges the return of the public records listed in the table below from the establishment of the former Bureau of Archives and History (predecessor of the Division of Archives and Records Management) to the present. Again, most were direct donations by civic-minded individuals and institutions in support of the democratic and legal principles of public access to government records and the rightful ownership of them by the people.

Year Received	Description of Records	Received From
1946	Somerset County Loan Office mortgage ledger, 1786-1799	Private Individual
1956	Last will and testament of John Hart, 1779	Manuscript/Book Dealer
1956	Several missing enrolled laws, 1911-13	Manuscript/Book Dealer
1958	Estate inventory of John Hart, 1779	Private Individual
1959	Civil War muster roll, 1862-63	Private Individual
1960	State Treasurer accounts current (vouchers), 1865	Private Individual
1962	Little Egg Harbor Township minute book, 1877-99	Private Individual
1978	Minutes of the Board of Managers of the Geological Survey of New Jersey, 1864-1904	Historical Repository
1980	“An Act for the Support of Government …,” 1763	Private Individual
1982	Civil War muster roll, 1863	Private Individual
1982	Millham Township minutes and vital records, 1882-90	Private Individual
1983	New Jersey’s original Treaty of Paris (preliminary articles), 1783	Historical Repository
1986	Civil War muster-out rolls, 1865	Historical Repository
1987	Ratification of the United States Constitution, 1787	Historical Repository
1988 etc.	Day books, accounts, U.S. Loan Office journal and receipts of the State Treasurer, 1791-1869	Private Individual
1989	Seven original enrolled laws, 1755-86	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
1989 etc.	Records of the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women, 1915-1974	Historical Repository
1990	Legislative and governors’ papers, 1752-1798	Private Individual
1990	Seventeen original enrolled laws, 1762-1865	Manuscript/Book Dealer
1992	“An Act concerning trespassing on lands for the purpose of gunning and fishing,” 1912	Historical Repository
1992	“An Act for Raising a Number of Men … for the Ensueing Campaign,” 1764	Manuscript/Book Dealer
1993	Military records of Lt. Col. Henry Hartford, 8th Regiment, New Jersey Volunteer Infantry, 1862-65	Private Individual
1994	Various court and military records, 1761-1830	Private Individual
1994	Records of Mercer County Sheriff Samuel T. Atchley, 1899-1903	Private Individual
1994	Records of the New Jersey State Reformatory for Women, 1920-1960s	Private Individual
1995	“A Supplement to an act entitled ‘An Act to incorporate the New Jersey Patent Ship Bread Company’,” 1842	Private Individual
1996	Records of Governor Robert B. Meyner, 1954-58	Historical Repository
1996	Essex County court records, 1804-05	Private Individual
1996	Papers of Capt. Thomas H. Ford, 1st Regiment, New Jersey Cavalry, 1862-65	Private Individual
1998	“An Act to regulate Waggons & other Wheel Carriages …,” 1787	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
1999	“An Act to raise a Fund for defraying Damages done by Dogs …,” 1763	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2001	Elizabethtown Survey Book C, 1736-57	Manuscript/Book Dealer
2001	Burlington County Deed Book A, 1785-88	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2002	Monmouth County Clerk’s Office, Miscellaneous Book B, 1780-1816	Private Individual
2002	Ewing Township minute book and vital statistics register, 1834-78	Private Individual
2002	Four original colonial laws and one colonial passed bill, 1760-67 – see Bernstein and Sang Donations event	Private Individual
2002	Twenty-two manuscripts, 1749-92 (mostly docketed correspondence of Governor William Livingston)	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2003	Thirty original enrolled laws, 1677-1862 – see Bernstein and Sang Donations event	Historical Repository
2003 etc.	Five original enrolled laws relating to currency, 1723-87	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2003 etc.	Nineteen original enrolled laws, 1772-89; letter from Thomas Henderson to Gov. William Livingston, 1892	Historical Repository
2004	Legislative and court papers, 1761-1901	Private Individual
2004	“An Act for defraying Sundry Incidental Charges,” 1782	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2004	Bergen County Jail commitment register, 1894-1904	Manuscript/Book Dealer
2004	“A Supplementary Act … Appointing Commissioners for finally Settling … Claims to the Common Lands of the Township of Bergen …’,” 1769	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2005	Two original enrolled laws, 1783 & 1790	Private Individual
2006 etc.	Miscellaneous official records of Gov. Brendan T. Byrne, 1979-81	Historical Repository
2006 etc.	Accounts and receipts of Burlington County Tax Collector John Black, 1785-1813; Burlington County militia records, 1797-1804	Private Individual
2006	Assembly Joint Resolution No. 2 “relative to the soldiers’ National Cemetery at Gettysburg,” 1864	Historical Repository
2007 etc.	Ten original enrolled laws, 1778-87; Amwell Township election notification, 1777	Private Individual
2007	Mercer County Circuit Court minute book, 1844-47; Cape Island/Cape May City oaths and bonds of public officials, 1851-87	Private Individual
2008	Four original enrolled laws, 1779-82	Private Individual through Manuscript/Book Dealer
2008	Hunterdon County militia muster roll, 1840	Private Individual
2008	State Treasurer pay records and attendance certificates, 1783-98	Private Individual

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